Rounding machine



Oct. 1, 1940. J. G. TURNER ROUNDING MACHINE Filed May 15, 1939 Patented Oct. 1, 1940 UNITED *STATES ROUNDING MACHINE 'Jacob Turner, Brookfield, Mo., assignor to United Shoe MachineryQorporation, Borough of Flemington, N. .L, a corporation of New Jersey 1 Application May 15, 1939, Serial No. 273,729

11 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for forming such work-pieces as shoe-soles; It is particularly applicable to apparatus of the character of that disclosed in Letters Patentof the United 1 States No. 2,114,368, Bertrand, April 19, 1938, in which a knife is employed, under the control of a pattern, to incise in one face of a sole-blank the outline of an insole. This is commonly effected simultaneously with the rounding of the 10 contour of an outsole from the same blank by another knife. The blank is thereafter split to divide from each other the two sole-pieces."

In making the incising cut, as above indicated, the knife encounters a varying resistance along its path, this resistance increasingwith different conditions of the stock operated upon and as the direction of the cut changes. The latter tends to occur at such sharply curved portions of an insole as at the shank. With this increase in 20 resistance, a force may be exerted which will withdraw or displace the knife outwardly from the work, being sometimes sufficient to spring the members by which the knife is supported. When this results, the depth of the incision in 95 the blank decreases, and when the splitting operation takes place, the scrap, which surrounds the insole-portion, will not be severed fully therefrom and must be separated by an additional operation. It is an object of my inventionto enno sure that the incising knife will be retained at its proper depth in the work throughout its travel. To this end, I combine with a pattern and a knife, with its carrier arm pivoted to oscillate toward and from the pattern as the point of operation of the knife moves about said pattern, means joined to the outer extremity of the arm for resisting withdrawal of the knife from the work by displacement of said arm. This is accomplished by a spring joining the arm to a point between which and the connection to the arm there is relative lateral movement, said spring acting to urge incising knife in the direction of incision while permitting the lateral movement. The force exerted by the spring may be made sufficient to 45 maintain the knife always to its full depth in the work, and to ensure this, means may be provided for varying the tension of the spring. This spring-retention of the carrier is, in the present instance, associated with a spring, adjustable as 50; to force, which acts upon the mounting of the knife on the carrier to urge it towardthe work. The illustrative form of the invention has two revoluble and oscillatory carrier-arms co-operating with two patterns, as in the previously men- 5,5; tioned patent, one pair of these co-operating (cl. m -17) members for the rounding knife and one for the incisin'g knife, a spring connecting the arms to resist the withdrawal of the incising knife from the work. This furnishes a convenient retaining connection for the incising knife, while the fact that this connection is in the form of a spring permits independent movement of the two arms as they oscillate under the control of the separate patterns. That the arm of the rounding knife shall not be displaced by the force exerted upon it through the spring, there is a retaining member with which its outer extremity contacts. To take up'the wear produced by this contact, there is preferably means for variably forcing the contactmember toward the arm.

One of the several forms which the invention may assume is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a top plan view of those elements of a sole-rounding machine to which my invention especially applies;

Fig. 2 shows, in perspective, the pivoted arms and the parts which they carry; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail on the line III-III of Fig. l.

The machine appearing in the drawing is of the two-arm Planet type, upon the stationary frame of which are mounted a lower outsolepattern 10 and an upper insole-pattern I2, between which patterns a blank to be operated 30, upon is clamped. Upon the usual rotary table It the slide I6 is movable, and upon a slide-extension !8 is pivoted at 20 the lower primary carrier-arm 22 for a rounding knife 24 and the upper secondary arm 26 for an in-cising knife 28. Tohold the rounding knife to the pattern In, its arm has upon it a gear-segment 3i], meshing with a pinion 32 to which force is applied by an unillustrated spring within a casing 34 upon the slide. Over this gearing is a cover-plate 36 separably attached at 38 to the slide. To urge the incising knife into co-operation with its pattern l2, an unillustrated spring within a casing 40 upon the slide is joined to the arm 26 by flexible connection 42. The block 4 1 of the knife 28 has a mounting furnished by a slide 46 guided for vertical movement upon the outer extremity of the arm 26. The slide is held down for the action of the knife 28 upon the work by an expansionspring 48, interposed between a portion of the 5,0- slide and a screw 5|] threaded through an abutment or bridge-piece 52 secured to the top of the arm 26 by screws 54. Against the force of this spring, the slide may be raised, to free the knife 28 from the Work, by ahand-lever 56 and inter- 55;

posed connections 58. To ensure that the force of the spring 48 shall be adequate to hold the slide 46 against upward displacement and the point of the knife 28 at the same depth in the work, the degree of compression of the spring may be varied by the screw 50. So far, the arrangement closely resembles that of the patent previously referred to.

Taking up now the feature more closely bearing upon the present invention, there is attached to the forward extremity of the secondary arm 26, preferably at the outer bridge-securing screw 54, a bracket fill. Lying in an opening at the outer end of this bracket is a vertical screw 62, variably held in place as to its height by a nut 64 resting upon the top of the bracket. Depending from the bottom of the screw, as by a hooked end 66 passing through an opening 68, is a helical tension spring iii, the lower extremity of which is received in an opening 12 in a portion of the lower arm .22 and held against withdrawal by being turned under the arm-portion at T4. The spring is placed under such tension by adjustment of v the nut li t, that a downward force will be exerted upon the arm 26 toward the plane of the pattern it, or in the direction in which the knife 28 makes its incising cut, sufficient to hold this element, which extends far from its pivot 2H3, against springing under the resistance which the knife meets as it travels through the work. Consequently, as the knives 24 and 28 move about their respective patterns I 9 and 12 to round an outsole from a blank clamped between said patterns and cut therein the contour of an insole, the point of the knife 28 will be caused to move always along substantially the same horizontal plane. As a result of this, the succeeding splitting operation can be depended upon to fully divide the peripheral scrap, outside the cut of the knife 28, from the body of the resulting insole. The points 'of attachment of the. spring 10 being widely separated between the arm 22 and the bracket 65, this spring may readily be deflected laterally, because of its length as well as its flexibility. Therefore, the necessary relative lateral oscillatory movements which the two arms must have will not be interfered with. To resist the upward displacing force along its pivotal axis which is applied to the lower arm 22 by the spring 10, a contact-abutment is provided for the outer extremity of the arm. This is shown as a plate 8t! set in a recess 82 in the under side of the cover 36 and extending over the upper face of the segment 36. The plate is backed by screws 84, 8t threaded through the cover and having lock-nuts SH. This plate itself, held against upward movement by the cover 36 secured to the slide l6 and bearing upon the segment which is fast upon the arm 22, will receive the upward thrust caused by the spring and maintain constant the position of the arm vertically. Any wear introduced by the contact between the segment and plate may be taken up by forcing down said plate by the screws 86. It will be seen that the abutmentplate 80 will prevent wear upon the pivot of the arm 22, and that the spring 10 will compensate for any wear which may occur in the pivot of the arm 26 and which would tend to cause variation in the depth of cut of the knife 28.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The combination with a pattern, of a carrierarm pivoted for oscillation toward and from the pattern, a knife mounted near the outer extremity of the arm and arranged to incise the work from one face through a portion of its thickness under the guidance of the pattern, means for causing movement of the point of operation of the knife about the pattern, and a spring joining the arm to a point between which and the connection to the arm there is relative lateral movement, said spring acting upon the arm to urge the knife in the direction of incision while permitting the lateral movement.

2. The combination with a pattern, of a carrier-arm pivoted for oscillation toward and from the pattern, a knife mounted near the outer extremity of the arm and arranged to incise the work from one face through a portion of its thickness under the guidance of the pattern, means for causing movement of the point of operation of the knife about the pattern, a tension-spring joining the arm to a point between which and the connection to the arm there is relative lateral movement, said spring acting to urge the knife in the direction of incision while permitting the lateral movement, and means arranged to vary the tension of the spring.

3. The combination with a pattern, of a carrier movable about the pattern, a mounting movable upon the carrier toward and from the plane of the pattern, a Work-incising knife supported upon the mounting and guided by the pattern, means for causing movement of the point of operation of the knife about the pattern, a spring acting upon the carrier to urge it in the direction of incision, and a spring acting upon the mounting to urge it in the direction of incision.

4. The combination with a pattern, of a carrier movable about the pattern, a mounting movable upon the carrier toward and from the plane of the pattern, a work-incising knife supported upon the mounting and guided by the pattern, means for causing movement of the point of operation of the knife about the pattern, a spring acting upon the carrier to urge it in the direction of incision, a spring acting upon the mounting to urge it in the direction of incision, and means arranged to vary the force of each spring.

5. In combination, two patterns, two arms revoluble about and pivoted to oscillate toward and from the respective patterns, a rounding knife carried by one arm, an incising knife carried by the other arm, and a spring connecting the arms.

6. In combination, two patterns, two arms revoluble about and pivoted to oscillate toward and from the respective patterns, a rounding knife carried by one arm, a member with which the outer extremity of the arm of the rounding knife contacts to prevent its displacement along the pivotal axis, an incising knife carried by the other arm, and a spring for drawing the arm of the incising knife toward that of the rounding knife.

7. In combination, two patterns, two arms revoluble about and pivoted to oscillate toward and from the respective patterns, a rounding knife carried by one arm, an incising knife carried by the other arm, a spring for drawing the arm of the incising knife toward that of the rounding knife, and a screw which may be variably positioned upon one of the arms and to which the spring is connected.

8. In combination, two patterns, two arms revoluble about and pivoted to oscillate toward and from the respective patterns, a rounding knife carried by one arm, a member with which the outer'extremity of the arm of the rounding knife contacts to prevent its displacement along the pivotal axis, means arranged to variably force the contact member toward the arm, an incising knife carried by the other arm, a spring for drawing the arm of the incising knife toward that of the rounding knife, and a screw variably positioned upon one of the arms and too which the spring'is connected.

9. In combination, two patterns, two arms revoluble about and pivoted to oscillate toward and from the respective patterns, a rounding knife carried by one arm, a mounting movable upon the other arm, an incising knife supported upon the mounting, a spring by which the mounting and its knife are urged in the direction of incision, and a spring connecting the two arms to urge that of the incising knife in the direction of incision.

10. In combination, two patterns, two arms revoluble about and pivoted to oscillate toward and from the respective patterns, a rounding knife carried by one arm, a mounting movable upon the other arm, an incising knife supported upon the mounting, a spring by which the mounting and its knife are urged in the direction of incision, an abutment for the spring attached to the arm of the incising knife, a bracket secured to the abutment, and a spring connected to the bracket and to the arm of the rounding knife.

11. In combination, two patterns, two arms revoluble about and pivoted to oscillate toward and from the respective patterns, a spring connecting the arms, a rounding knife carried by one arm and provided with an actuating segment, a segment-cover fixed relatively thereto, a contact member interposed between the cover and the segment, and means by which the contact member may be forced toward the segment.

JACOB G. TURNER. 

